Hypermasculinity & Women in Hip Hop

Guest post by Samhita Mukhopadhyay.

All of this just fell into my lap at once so I thought I would lump it into one post about hip-hop and spotlight films, activism and music that is going down showing the changing face of hip-hop and responding to the hypermasculinity portrayed in mainstream hip hop today.

Firstly, I was reading over at New American Media about Byron Hurt's new documentary on manhood in hip hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture. In it he tackles what he finds as a formulaic presentation of contemporary rap artists. Vibe writes. . .

Hurt's relationship to some of hip hop's lyrical content shifted soon after college, when he was hired to educate high school and college athletes about gender issues. "I didn't know anything about 'gender awareness' when they hired me," he says. "It made me nervous. I was worried my friends would think I was soft for what I was doing." The training he received on the job, though, changed his life. "I realized for the first time that sexism and violence against women were real issues. And I felt like I could make a difference."

Then, while watching Rap City one day back in 2000, Hurt suddenly found himself noticing that "all the videos looked very … formulaic." Thugged-out rappers, scantily-clad women, cash, and cars - it all seemed to be playing on repeat, and it all seemed to present the same message: these are the things you need in order to be a "man."

In the past couple of years, all-female DJ nights have become much more common locally, but the phenomenon isn't limited to the Bay Area. "I didn't realize how many women DJs were really, really out there until I hit MySpace," Pam confides with a chuckle.

Typically, women in hip-hop have been portrayed as video vixens (i.e. Karrine "Superhead" Stephens), oversexed divas (think Lil' Kim and Trina), or asexual tomboys (a la Lady Sovereign). Occasionally, they get to be girlfriends of a thugged-out Big Willie type, but only if they're "bootylicious" (like Beyoncé). However, those limited stereotypes are but a small representation of the role women have actually played in the culture.

This week, S.F.-based independent label Outta Nowhere Entertainment hopes to alter the public perception of women in hip-hop with the release of "Queendom, Vol. 1," the first in a projected series spotlighting female emcees and DJs from across the country and the world.

Activism against the capitalist inspired misogyny in hip hop has been going on for a while, but has yet to truly absorb into the mainstream. But perhaps it is finally gaining momentum.